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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

A begining, middle and an end!!

I was always taught back in the day that every story had to have the above. Excellent I can do that. The dilemma, is how am I going to present the recipes? I don't fancy doing a Julia Child and categorizing the food, fish, meat, vegetables etc. It just wouldn't work. So I moved onto thinking about the seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter. However living in Canada, now means I can get most foods all year round as it is imported from the USA and Mexico.

My next thought was breaking it down into meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts and extra's. Could I do that? Where am I going to fit in my potato salad and my orange with feta and mint? I decided to change extras to salads because I needed to have some organization as I like things to flow, so the thought of a cook book that has all meals jumbled up together worries me. Is the reader going to be able to flick through and find what they want with ease? Hopefully. So I am going to stick with the meals.

Since committing myself to this adventure, my mind has been racing with new recipe ideas. Yesterday I was at the best market ever, Granville Island. Although popular with tourists, its my haven to lose myself and let my mind run free. I walk around the stalls forever admiring what is available. I love the deli's with there huge array of cheeses and stuffed vegetables. The fruit stands are always stacked high and the seafood is amazing. I like to watch the huge live crabs in the tanks fighting with the lobsters. The best place to see live lobster, crab and oysters is at 'The Lobster Man'. He has huge holding tanks and sells to the local restaurants and public alike. He will also cook the crab and lobster for you so you don't have that unpleasant feeling of boiling a crustacean to death.

I was only going to the market to pick up vegetables for my tomato soup but got carried away and came back with a pound of squid tubes. On return home I made the best calamari. I sliced the squid and tossed them in seasoned flour before shallow frying them and drizzling them in fresh lemon juice. A nice big dollop of mayonnaise with cut pickles and capers were served alongside. Mmm mmm. I ate so much I couldn't eat my dinner, typical!!!

I am currently thinking about how to make a cheats cheesecake, swirled with homemade mint or toffee syrup.